Turkish Students' Metaphorical Conceptualisations of School Counsellors

Abstract

Metaphorical language is a tool we use automatically to better express how we experience ourselves and our world. Metaphors provide a fresh or new understanding, and they also structure our thoughts and actions. The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school students' conceptual metaphors (a) to engage counsellors in evaluating beliefs of students about counselling, and (b) to support the continued evolution and modification of metaphors so that they embody and reflect principles of counselling revealed in counselling studies and during field placement experiences. Thus, we examined the changes in students' beliefs about counselling that come about as a result of engaging in the normal activities associated with the counselling experience in schools. The study was carried out with 1,125 students attending secondary schools in Turkey. To discover the participating students' perceptions regarding their school counsellor, they were asked to complete the sentence “School Counsellors are like … because … ” The metaphors produced by the participants were assigned to six categories: (1) Counsellor as Developer and Tutor, (2) Counsellor as Sincere and Earnest Person, (3) Counsellor as Elucidator and Advisor, Directive Person, (4) Counsellor as Healer, (5) Counsellor as Goody-Goody, and (6) Counsellor as Nurturer. The findings strongly suggest that school counsellors can use metaphor analysis as a means of assisting students in the examination of their values, beliefs, and philosophies about guidance and counselling.